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The Chesterfield Afternoon Tea

The Chesterfield Afternoon Tea

The Chesterfield Hotel is located in Mayfair in London and is a grand hotel, with a history dating back to the 1700s. It hasn’t always been a hotel, but the buildings that now form it have had an interesting past. On arrival we were greeted warmly by a doorman out of the front of the building and once our coats had been taken, we were seated in a beautiful conservatory room. The room had an air of outside-brought-in to it. Decorated in greens and whites and lavished with many plants throughout, it certainly brightened up what was actually quite a miserable day outside.

We were here for afternoon tea and the menu for The Chesterfield afternoon tea was themed - titled ‘Charlie and the Chesterfield Afternoon Tea’.

Once we were seated, a tiny little milk bottle with a straw in it was presented to us. It had a fruity liquid with popping candy in it. I think this was a lovely scene-setter for what we thought was going to be a wonderful and interesting afternoon tea.

On the menu were a selection of home-made sandwiches. It was hard to choose my favourite, but I did enjoy the egg mayonnaise and watercress on basil bread. The honey roast ham, cheddar cheese and tomato chutney on onion bread came a close second. I love the flavours of the different breads. The basil bread isn’t something I’d had before and it worked beautifully with the simplicity of the egg mayonnaise.

It’s not to say I don’t enjoy the sweet side of an afternoon tea, but I love the savoury. I love sandwiches. Simple pleasures eh!

But the sweet side wasn’t going to disappoint. There were two types of scones. Yes, two! One which was a fruit scone and one which was a chocolate chip scone. I’m not a big fan of cream, so scones for me are usually just a jam affair. But it was lovely to have a chocolate option. The chocolate scone was really light. I expected it to be like a muffin, which I was so delighted when it wasn’t. It was a perfect addition to the afternoon tea. I didn’t have a fruit scone, but my other half tells me it was as good as the chocolate one.

Now I should tell you about the tea. As with many afternoon teas you can enjoy in London, there was a good range of tea available. Earl Grey, silver needle, jasmine tea, just to name a few, but we are both big tea drinkers, so wanted to try something new. My afternoon tea at Sketch was how I discovered I liked lemongrass tea and now I have one each morning.

After perusing the tea menu and speaking to our lovely waiter, I opted for the tea that was specially blended for the Chesterfield afternoon tea menu, the Willy Wonka tea. It was two dark teas, blended with cocoa nibs. I had tried chocolate tea before and it was pretty gross, but I felt I should give it a go.

I was so glad I did. It was delicious. It was sweet but not overly sweet. You could add milk if you wished, but I thought it was perfect black. It was the perfect accompaniment to the afternoon tea. My other half started with a green tea and then tried the organic rosebud tea. The rosebud tea looked a bit like pot-pourri, which made us chuckle.

On to the sweet. There was a vast selection. A blueberry macaroon, a willy wonka bar, a golden egg, a fruity tart plus much more. What struck us as little odd was there was only one of everything, not that we needed two as the selection was so very vast, but personally I would have preferred less options, just a couple perhaps, but one each. Part of the fun of an afternoon tea is to try things together and some of the items were difficult to cut to share.

After sandwiches and a scone, I have to confess, I didn’t do very well on the sweet side, only managing to try a couple of items whilst we were there, but they were kind enough to box up what we couldn’t finish. The highlight of the sweet items was the deliciously flavoursome blueberry macaroon. I mentioned how delicious they were to one of the waitresses and she kindly brought us some extras to take with us.

The afternoon tea was full of delights. I enjoyed the Willy Wonka tea very much and drank a whole pot to myself. It was really well thought out and the selection was vast. Personally there was a little too much sweet for my palate, but then I always say that at an afternoon tea. It was much appreciated that the items we couldn’t finish were boxed up for us. That way we could try the other items in the following days.

The Charlie and the Chesterfield Afternoon Tea gets a big thumbs up from us both. It was such a nice experience. The tea we enjoyed was £36.50 per person including hot drinks, or if you wish you can choose the champagne option at £43.50.

Sounds like a really lovely experience. So nice that they boxed up the extras for you! The food all looked lovely and as huge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fan, this theme is right up my street!
Thanks for linking up to #AnythingGoes 🙂
Debbie